Stinger (video game)

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Stinger box art

Moero Twinbee box art

Moero! Twinbee: Cinamon Hakasei wo Sukue, is a video game published and developed by Konami, a video game console-only sequel to the original Twinbee and the second in the series (and not the first, as some people erroneously credit). This is the only game in the Twinbee series that was released in the United States and Canada, released under the name Stinger. This game was originally released for the Famicom Disk System in 1986, but its was ported to cartridge form (minus some elements) for the North American Nintendo Entertainment System a year later, though at the end of the console's life cycle (1993), the cartridge version (with the missing elements restored) was released in Japan.

1 Story
2 Game play
3 Differences between the Japanese and American versions
4 Moero! Twinbee/Stinger release history
5 External links

[edit] Story

In the Japanese version, some enemy force kidnaps Dr. Cinnamon (creator of Twinbee and its siblings), and Twinbee, Winbee and Gwinbee, along with Skatch, Hoip and Merou, the third generation of pilots (and descendants of the better-known Light, Pastel and Mint) must rescue him.

In the North American version, the story is basically the same, but Cinnamon's name was never mentioned and he passed up as a generic scientific. None of the three pilots are mentioned either.

[edit] Game play

Unlike its predecessor, Moero! Twinbee has horizontal shooter levels in addition to the vertical ones. The horizontal levels were the odd-numbered stages and basically, are like the vertical levels, with a different orientation (as opposed to other horizontal shooters like Gradius where the player must evade obstacles as well). The vertical levels were the even-numbered levels.

In all levels, either Twinbee, Winbee or Gwinbee must finish the stage by making it to the end and defeating the boss. Once the player finishes 7 levels, they can access to a harder variation of the game, with some new enemies and more aggressive versions of the old ones. If the game is finished again, the third game is progressively faster.

Like in the previous game, all three characters can shoot projectiles and fire bombs. The basic fire is straight-forward while the bomb travels in a forward-downward arc direction. The power-ups, like in other games, are bells that appear when the clouds are shot. The color of the bells determines the power-up that will be obtained, and changes when shot continuously. If shot too many times, the bell will transform into a face that will kill any character that touches it. The power-up obtained can be two-shots, laser, shields and shadows/options. Besides the bell power-up, there are also hidden power-ups that can only be obtained by destroying certain targets. These items are much powerful and have major priority over the bell power-ups.

One of the main draws of the series is the two player mode (three player in the Japanese version). Two (or three) characters play together cooperatively, rather than taking turns as in other games of th era. There is also a special attack that can be done by making a character bump with another when both are aligned (one over the another in the horizontal levels, or side-to-side in the vertical ones), which unleash a ring that is able to destroy a number of enemies.

As in the previous title, any character can lose their ability to launch bombs and much of their firepower if they are hit by the wings. When that happens, an ambulance ship appears to repair the broken wings. When a player dies, on occasions an "angel bee" floats upwards; if touched, the player who lost his or her life can reclaim their lost power.

[edit] Differences between the Japanese and American versions

The Japanese version (FDS or Famicom) is able to allow three players play simultaneously (with the third controller plugged using the Famicom Four-way Adaptor , the Famicom variant of the NES Four Score). In the American version this option was reduced to just two, with Winbee omitted.

In the Japanese FDS version, if you run the FDS off of a NES using a 60-to-72 pin adapter, you can use the NES Four Score to get a third player.

In the Japanese FDS version, there are two difficulty levels: Normal and Hard. In the NES version, this option is disabled, which means that the default difficult will always be Normal (though Hard can be accessed by finishing the game once). The Famicom version adds an Easy difficulty.

As mentioned in the story section, the American version cut several references to the series and dialogue, such as Dr. Cinnamon and the pilots' opening appearance.